Net Neutrality to Inflict Losses in Jobs and GDP

This week, the director of The Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute of the New York Law School, Charles M. David, and Bret Swanson, president of Entropy Economics, a technology research firm, released a report highlighting the negative effects of Net Neutrality on job loss and GDP. Stratecast released a similar report recently, and this new report stands to reinforce those assertions. If Net Neutrality and other internet regulations are enacted, there will be a direct correlation in job losses and the U.S.’s Gross Domestic Product. The report summarizes that “Davidson and Swanson analyzed the hundreds of billions of dollars in broadband network expansion and upgrades over the past decade and determined they generated hundreds of thousands of jobs, annually contribute tens of billions of dollars to GDP, and have spurred innovation across the content and device sectors.”

As the economy is still in a “fragile state”, imposing any regulations along these lines will only damage the economy further. Swanson and David predict that over the next five years, broadband innovators will invest approximately $30 billion annually in fiber optic and wireless networks, resulting in 500,000 jobs. This, in turn, will spur others in the “broadband ecosystem” to invest at least $18 billion annually, creating 450,000 jobs. Net Neutrality restrictions, however, would result in anywhere from 500,000-700,000 jobs lost and decrease the GDP by $62-$80 billion.

It can’t be stressed enough that the FCC’s wishes of instituting Net Neutrality and placing regulation on the Internet is the best way to kill Internet growth and innovation. Yesterday, the FCC put out a notice of inquiry to begin such rulemaking. This report is yet another reason to oppose the FCC’s pursuit to regulate the Internet.